Geometry Terms Are Easier to Remember With Art

Geometry
terms in middle school geometry and elementary geometry are easy to remember when
geometry lesson plans include art projects. Geometry activities which include
art are helpful as a vehicle for memory and make teaching geometry more
effective and fun for everyone.

Art in
education is at its best in the math classroom, and teaching math with art is
especially effective in helping children remember and understand the language of geometry. Learning math is all about learning vocabulary, and these geometry
projects extend the word wall as children use and illustrate the geometry words
found there.

Scary
Scalenes

When my
students had difficulty remembering the different kinds of triangles, I began
searching for a way to help. So I created the Scary Scalene geometry project in
order to reinforce this type of triangle. It is the perfect activity to do for
Halloween.

Other Art Projects for Learning Geometry

Hidden Shapes – This project may be
adapted to any grade level as students may be asked to hide shapes as simple as
circles and squares or as complex as regular hexagons or acute/obtuse
triangles.

Angle Animals – Students draw animals
in their natural habitat with their mouths open to specified degrees. This
assignment, too, may be modified to fit different grade levels as mouth
specifications could include acute, obtuse, and right angles rather than
specific degree measures.

Arc pictures – Drawing pictures using
only arcs – no straight lines – reinforces the geometry term “arc” and yields
some amazing results.

Trap-a-zoid assignment – This project
can be used to fuse science, math, art, and language arts as students create a
creature from another planet or solar system, a Zoid, and write details about
its history, care, and feeding requirements.

In the Neighborhood – This project, too, may
be adapted to different grade levels. Students create and draw a neighborhood
with streets that may be parallel, perpendicular, or intersecting depending on
your instructions.

My students were required to draw two parallel lines (streets) cut by a
transversal (third street) and place specific buildings in alternate exterior
or alternate interior angles. This language was difficult to grasp, and
students needed them to be placed somehow in their context.

Mountain Village – This teacher-led center is a good way to introduce composite figures, and the display is absolutely beautiful!

Tangram Zoo – Students create animals with tangrams and figure the area of each.